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Ring Magazine Champions

Accept nothing less! These are boxing's true CHAMPIONS -- anyone not listed here that claims to be a champion of a division is a titleholder.

Heavyweight
Wladimir Klitschko

Cruiserweight (200)
Tomasz Adamek

Light Heavyweight (175)
Vacant

Super Middleweight (168)
Vacant

Middleweight (160)
Kelly Pavlik

Junior Middleweight (154)
Vacant

Welterweight (147)
Vacant

Junior Welterweight (140)
Manny Pacquiao

Lightweight (135)
Juan Manuel Marquez

Junior Lightweight (130)
Vacant

Featherweight (126)
Vacant

Junior Featherweight (122)
Vacant

Bantamweight (118)
Vacant

Junior Bantamweight (115)
Vacant

Flyweight (112)
Vacant

Junior Flyweight (108)
Ivan Calderon

Strawweight (105)
Vacant

Mandatory Eight Count: Tomorrow's "Other" Fights

by SC on Nov 21, 2009 2:22 AM EST in News Comment 0 comments

With Zsolt Erdei moving up in weight tomorrow, he has vacated the WBO light heavyweight title. Juergen Braehmer (pictured) is now the full titleholder. (Photo via www.boxing.de)

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Rumble at Rama X - Marvin Sonsona vs Alejandro Hernandez Preview (The Boxing Bulletin)
Andrew Fruman previews Saturday night's 115-pound title matchup between Marvin Sonsona and Alejandro Hernandez. Andrew will be giving some live updates from ringside tomorrow night. If you're yet unfamiliar with the phenom Sonsona, you can watch his last fight with Jose "Carita" Lopez here.

Q&A: Zsolt Erdei (Fightnews)
Zsolt Erdei challenges Giacobbe Fragomeni tomorrow for the WBC cruiserweight title. Erdei is undefeated and has held the WBO light heavyweight title since 2004. He's vacated the belt, and is going into tomorrow's fight with a black eye suffered in sparring.

Barrios va por el título ante Lozada en el Lawn Tennis (Agencia NOVA)
Story's in Spanish obviously. Jorge Barrios returns to action against Michael Lozada in Argentina. Barrios talked a lot earlier this year about fighting Edwin Valero, then pulled out of the Lightweight Lightning show, and now he's talking a lot about fighting Edwin Valero, which probably still won't happen.

¡González viajó con seguridad a Argentina! (NotiFight)
Also in Spanish, and also in Argentina. Marcos Maidana will defend his interim 140-pound title against William Gonzalez. Different card from the Barrios fight. Big weekend for Argentinian boxing.

Sadinas de Tuxtla - An Anecdote About the Sosa-Mayol Weigh-In (PhilBoxing.com)
108-pound titlist Edgar Sosa makes another defense of his crown, against Rodel Mayol. Mayol drew and lost to Ivan Calderon in two truncated fights this year. This article tells a tale of Mayol's frustrating experience with the weigh-in in Mexico.

Juergen Braehmer named full WBO light heavyweight titlist (Boxing.de)
With Erdei's move up, stablemate Juergen Braehmer moves into his spot as WBO titlist. Erdei's vacating of the belt also means that his argument as lineal champion is dead and gone, which is kind of a relief, really.

Karim Mayfield: "This Time, I Will Make It More Decisive" (FightHype)
Welterweight prospect Karim Mayfield (10-0-1, 6 KO) rematches Francisco Santana (11-1, 5 KO) on the Kessler-Ward undercard in Oakland. Mayfield beat Santana via split decision in March 2008.

Vazquez Jr. Stops Genaro Garcia; Title Fight Within Reach (Boxing Scene)
Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. won a seventh round TKO over veteran Genaro Garcia in Florida. Jake Donovan reports.

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Top Rank molding full lineup for December 19 PPV

by SC on Nov 20, 2009 7:39 PM EST in News Comment 0 comments

Humberto Soto meets Jesus Chavez in the Top Rank pay-per-view co-feature on December 19. (Photo by Ethan Miller / Getty Images)

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Top Rank is putting together a full PPV lineup for December 19 that might not make you want to shell out 40 bucks, but isn't for a lack of trying to get some interesting names out there.

We all know that the night's main event from Youngstown, Ohio, will pit middleweight world champion Kelly Pavlik against Miguel Espino, a fight that has not been well-received by fans or media at all, really. The show's main co-feature will main event the Mexico part of the card, as Humberto Soto moves up to lightweight to take on former titlist Jesus Chavez.

Soto calls Chavez "very dangerous," but I don't see that claim going over so hot, either. Jesus Chavez was a hell of a fighter in his prime, but he's not in his prime anymore. The 37-year-old Chavez has already lost fights to Michael Katsidis (Chavez quit on his stool) and David Diaz this year. Diaz had been out of action for over a year. Honestly, and I always hate even bringing it up, Chavez has not been the same since the Leavander Johnson incident, and that was over four years ago. He's also had a bad knee injury that has taken a lot out of him. Soto is the one going up in weight, but Chavez is just a name. He's not a legit contender anymore.

The best fight on the card might be interim WBA bantamweight titleholder Nehomar Cermeno defending against Alejandro Valdez. Valdez was involved in a very controversial fight with Fernando Montiel earlier this year, which it initially appeared he had won. That would've been a strong contender for Upset of the Year, but the fight was changed to a technical draw.

Also appearing on the card will be Jose Luis Castillo, who just helped Manny Pacquiao in training camp, and unbeaten flyweight prospect Hernan "Tyson" Marquez.

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Fight Camp 360º: Episode Two for the Super Six World Boxing Classic. Some NSFW language, so be warned there. Excellent stuff all around. The episode covers Kessler-Ward, and also goes in-depth behind the scenes for last month's fights between Carl Froch and Andre Dirrell, and Arthur Abraham and Jermain Taylor.

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Rendall Munroe outpoints Simone Maludrottu to retain European 122-pound title

by SC on Nov 20, 2009 6:46 PM EST in Post-Fight Analysis Comment 2 comments

European junior featherweight titleholder Rendall Munroe overcame something of a slow start to outpoint Italian challenger Simone Maludrottu in a terrific fight today in Nottingham. Munroe won on scores of 116-112, 116-112 and 115-113. Bad Left Hook scored the fight a 114-114 draw.

Munroe's victory not only allows him to retain his title, but gives him the right to a shot at WBC titlist Toshiaki Nishioka. After the fight, Munroe said he was ready for the title shot immediately. The 29-year-old bin man by day from Leicester would be a pretty wide underdog against Nishioka, who has not lost a fight since 2004.

Munroe (20-1, 8 KO) used relentless pressure and his size and in-ring weight advantage to pull out the victory. Neither man was particularly accurate, but both threw tons of punches and showed no stamina issues. Munroe turned the fight around after six rounds, after which I had him trailing 58-56.

It was then that he began constantly pressing Maludrottu (30-3, 11 KO) into the ropes, throwing punches in bunches, and getting rises out of the Nottingham crowd. It was the strategy he would use for the rest of the fight, and what gave him the win.

Maludrottu, 31, used effective activity and some nice counter-punching to stay in the fight, but he had a rough spell between the 8th and 10th rounds especially. In the final two rounds, I felt he came back fairly strong to tie things up at six rounds apiece, but he fell short of that on the official cards.

Maludrotto and Munroe both put all they had into what turned out to be a highly entertaining affair. There were almost no clinches, even though they fought the majority of the bout with their shoulders pressed into one another. The pace was brisk starting in the latter half of the first round, and neither used jabs effectively at all. Munroe targeted the body, while Maludrottu tried to work upstairs on Munroe.

Munroe might well do everything he can to get the Nishioka fight first, but he could really stand to take something else first, I think. He's a really likable guy and certainly came to fight today, and he showed an ability to adjust mid-fight that wound up making the difference. But Nishioka is on a different level than Maludrottu. Maludrottu showed no snap on his punches, only once rocking Munroe's head back noticeably. Nishioka would have capitalized on some of those times that Munroe left himself wide open tonight, because Maludrottu actually did capitalize on them, he just wasn't a strong enough puncher to make anything happen.

All in all, though, the focus should be on a terrific effort from both. They put on a hell of a show, and this will be a contender for Fight of the Month.

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Kessler-Ward Weigh-In Live at 5pm ET

by SC on Nov 20, 2009 2:04 PM EST in Features Comment 40 comments

6:23 PM Update: Kessler weighed in at 167 pounds, and Ward at 166 1/2. Both looked to be in good shape. Waldo will have more from the weigh-in later.

Where's Waldo? He's in Oakland. Waldo Rastel (better known to many of you as waldo47) is on the scene today for the official weigh-in for tomorrow night's Super Six tournament fight between WBA super middleweight titlist Mikkel Kessler and unbeaten American and former Olympic gold medalist Andre Ward.

Waldo covered the press conference a couple of days ago, and will have live updates again today in the comments section of this post, including the weights as they come in. The whole shebang is scheduled to start at 2pm local time in California, so 5pm ET. No word on whether or not there will be another high school cheerleading performance.

Don't forget that Bad Left Hook will also have live, round-by-round coverage and scoring tomorrow night starting at 10pm ET.

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Bad Left Hook Live Boxing Results and Commentary: Rendall Munroe v. Simone Maludrottu

by SC on Nov 20, 2009 1:30 PM EST in Round-by-Round Comment 44 comments

For an in-depth preview of this European junior featherweight title fight, check out our friends at The Boxing Bulletin.

Our live coverage will start at 4:30pm ET with round-by-round in the comments of this post, and real time analysis. If you have an SBN account, you won't need to refresh at all.

RENDALL MUNROE		SIMONE MALUDROTTU
	Main Event

Record:	19-1 (8 KO)	Record:	30-2 (11 KO)
Age:	29	Age:	31
Hometown:	Leicester, England	Hometown:	Olbia, Italy
Height:	5'7"	Height:	5'5"
Reach:	68"	Reach:	66"
Ranks/Titles:	European Junior Featherweight, #12 BoxRec	Ranks/Titles:	#27 BoxRec
TV:	Sky Sports, 4:30pm ET	Venue:	Harvey Hadden Leisure Centre - Nottingham, England

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Why Pacquiao-Mayweather needs to be in Vegas

by Brickhaus on Nov 20, 2009 12:44 PM EST in Features Comment 14 comments

Lately, there's been a lot of noise that Bob Arum is putting out feelers to have a Pacquiao-Mayweather superfight in a location other than Las Vegas. He's already spoken to Jerry Jones about using the Dallas Cowboys' stadium. There have been some quieter rumors about looking at Wembley Stadium in the UK. But at the end of the day, the fight needs to be in Vegas, and it has nothing to do with the fight atmosphere.

Mayweather and Pacquiao are both in it for the money

Heck, Mayweather even goes by the name "Money" these days. Pacquaio often comes across as being a bit more altruistic, but he cares about the dollars as well. He threatened to put the kabosh on his fight with Ricky Hatton until Hatton agreed to a 50/50 split of UK revenues. And whoever promotes the fight, the promoter surely stands more to gain by having the fight in the most profitable location rather than the most significant location. To figure out where the fight would be held, you need to follow the green brick road.

You can charge exorbitant ticket prices in Vegas

One great thing about the Nevada State Athletic Commission is that they actually publish all of their live gates, so you know how much a fight has made just off the ticket sales. The all-time high live gate was Mayweather-De La Hoya, which brought in over $18 million in ticket sales. Mayweather-Hatton brought in over $10 million. Pacquiao-Hatton and Pacquiao-Cotto both brought in about $8 million. This means that Mayweather-De La Hoya was able to average over $1,000 per ticket. Even the lowest of these, Pacquiao-Hatton, averaged about $575 per ticket. Figure that a megafight of this magnitude would be somewhere in the middle, but probably closer to the record. Splitting the baby, which I think is conservative, they would be able to sell 17,000 tickets at about $800 a pop. That brings in $13.6 million in live gate alone. Nowhere else in the world is there enough money just waiting to be spent that you can average a ticket price that high.

The casinos are willing to pay...

For the biggest fights, casinos are willing to pay massive site fees in order to retain a fight. If you have a huge fight, tons of people (not just the people buying tickets) end up in the casino, and at the end of the day, the house wins more money than it spends from the extra gamblers. Mayweather-Hoya was rumored to have a site fee in the $15 - $20 million range, although no official number was released. Mayweather-Hatton had a $7 million site fee. Even a dud like Hopkins-Calzaghe got an $8 million site fee from Planet Hollywood. Conservatively, the site fee for a fight this big should be around $10 million, and it could be much larger than that. That brings revenues from holding the fight in Vegas up to around $23.6 million, and possibly as high as around $35 million.

...and others aren't

Once upon a time, there were mysterious benefactors who wanted to pay for the biggest fights in order to bring publicity to their countries. To host the Rumble in the Jungle, President Mobutu paid Don King a site fee of $10 million (about $35 million in 2009 dollars). I just can't think of any benefactor who would be willing to come up with that kind of coin to have the fight hosted in their hometown. Bob Arum's been talking for years about having a big fight in Dubai, but it would probably cost someone $30 million out of pocket to make it worth everyone's while to hold a fight over there. With budget crunches everywhere, it's unlikely that anyone would be willing to pay a huge site fee unless they pretty much know they'll be getting the money back, like a casino.

The fight needs to be indoors

This one's pretty self-explanatory. In the past, there have been major fights aired in temporary outdoor stadiums, but that just can't happen. First, the liability is too great these days to have a large temporary stadium. Second, if a fight gets rained out, everyone loses lots of money. It wasn't such a big deal when fights were being aired on network TV - if there's a rainout on World Wide of Sports, they can just put the fight on next week's edition, and everyone's pretty happy. But in a pay-per-view situation, a rescheduled fight would probably require months of remarketing to ensure that they do not lose massive sales. This precludes a lot of otherwise attractive venues from being feasible.

To make up the difference, you need a massive venue with high ticket prices

Even assuming that a fight at the MGM Grand would only generate $23.6 million, in order to make more money than in Vegas, you would need to sell out a 100,000 person stadium at an average price of $236 a ticket. A 65,000 seat stadium would need to sell at an average price of $363 a ticket. A 40,000 seat venue (i.e., a baseball stadium with a retractable roof) would need to sell at an average price of nearly $600 a ticket. And to achieve as much upside as Vegas' potential, you'd need to increase those average ticket prices by 50%. Outside of Vegas, where are you going to find enough people with that kind of money? In addition, when looking at these averages, you need to keep in mind that you can't charge nearly as much for a majority of the seats in the venue, simply because tens of thousands of people aren't going to pay $300 for nosebleed seats.

While holding the fight in a huge venue outside of Vegas is an intriguing idea, it's just not that feasible. Without some deep pocket guaranteeing a lot of cash on the side, it's unlikely that a fight outside of Vegas could generate more revenue than a fight in Vegas. And in this economy, I don't know if anyone's ego is that big.

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Cotto-Pacquiao does 1.25 million buys on pay-per-view

by SC on Nov 20, 2009 12:16 PM EST in News Comment 24 comments

HBO has released the numbers, and the Miguel Cotto-Manny Pacquiao fight last Saturday generated 1.25 million buys on pay-per-view, beating out Mayweather-Marquez as the biggest boxing event of 2009. The fight generated $70 million in pay-per-view revenue to go along with its $8.84 million live gate.

The 1.25 million number equals what Pacquiao did a year ago against Oscar de la Hoya, though it doesn't quite reach the larger numbers that were being bandied about this week. Bob Arum said he thought it was looking like about 1.3 million, and he turned out to be correct. Usually, Bob is one of those going high, but I think this number more than pleases everyone involved.

Hatton-Pacquiao in May was a big success. Mayweather-Marquez was a phenomenal success. And this fight -- bigger than both -- is just more proof that if you put together fights and build guys right, boxing is far, far from dead.

I would have said six months ago that a Mayweather-Pacquiao fight approaching the all-time PPV record set by Oscar and Floyd back in 2007 would have been impossible, but now I think there's a real chance there. Breaking two million buys is damn hard. In fact, Oscar-Floyd is the only fight that has ever done it, with Lewis-Tyson being No. 2 all-time at 1.99 million.

But I think Mayweather-Pacquiao can do it. I don't know if they will, but HBO has already said they'll be putting unheard of backing behind this must-see event should the parties work out a deal, and it seems to just about all of us that a deal not getting worked out is almost unthinkable. Way too much money to be made.

Boxing is on a nice little roll this year, and really has been the last few years or so. Slowly but surely, the mainstream media is starting to get over their "boxing is dead" obsession, and I'm hoping that a Floyd-Manny fight will be the last time I ever have to read articles from basketball writers titled, "The fight to get boxing off the ropes," or what have you.

Congratulations to HBO, Top Rank and of course, the fighters.

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